Friday, April 26, 2019 Daily Archives

Lilly inks potential $440m antibody oligo conjugate deal

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Eli Lilly has teamed with Avidity Biosciences for the development of a new class of RNA-based drugs, antibody oligonucleotide conjugates (AOCs). The deal sees Big Biopharma firm Eli Lilly pay Avidity Biosciences $20 million (€18 million) upfront and invest a further $15 million into the L Jolla, California-based company. Depending on development, regulatory and commercialization milestones, Avidity could receive a further $405 million. Lilly hopes to use Avidity’s AOC tech platform to generate “new therapeutic targets in disease areas that…

April 26, 2019

Thermo Fisher allots $125m to expand CDMO buy Brammer

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The gene therapy space is growing at an annual rate higher than 25% says Thermo Fisher, which recently agreed to buy CDMO Brammer Bio for $1.7 billion. Thermo Fisher announced last month the agreement to buy contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) for $1.7 billion (€1.5 billion), propelling the life sciences services firm into the gene therapy production space. While the deal has not yet closed (expected by end of Q2 2019), Thermo Fisher said on its first quarter financials…

April 26, 2019

GSK injects $100 in Montana plant to support Shingrix vaccine

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GlaxoSmithKline will expand its adjuvant system production capacity at a site in Hamilton, Montana to help feed the high demand for shingles vaccine Shingrix. The $100 million (€90 million) investment at the Hamilton plant will be used to expand the production capacity of key components of the adjuvant system used in several of GSK’s vaccines. “The project involves construction of facilities required to increase adjuvant production, which is a component of some of our vaccines, like Shingrix,†GSK spokesperson Sean…

April 26, 2019

Biogen reports steep European adoption of Humira biosimilar

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Biogen and Samsung Bioepis’ Imraldi has exceeded 200,000 doses in its first full quarter since launch and, in one example, has captured 14% of the German market. Approved in August 2017, Imraldi launched in the European Union in October 2018. Imraldi is one of several biosimilars of AbbVie’s best-selling monoclonal antibody Humira (adalimumab) competing in the region. Others include Amgen’s Amgevita and Sandoz’s Hyrimoz, both also launched in Q4 2018 following the expiration of AbbVie patents. In the first full…

April 26, 2019